repair install and MBR and Grub

G

Guest

I have two partition on my hd, NTFS and linux ext2. An repair install of XP
Professional SP2 do wipe original linux MBR code, writed by Debian
installer? This is important question. In forums on the internet i have
readed some different answers for that issue.

In my experiment the repair install of Windows 2000 Professional keep
original MBR code, if the other partition is linux, and the Grub working good.
 
P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

zoli62 said:
I have two partition on my hd, NTFS and linux ext2. An repair install of
XP
Professional SP2 do wipe original linux MBR code, writed by Debian
installer? This is important question. In forums on the internet i have
readed some different answers for that issue.

In my experiment the repair install of Windows 2000 Professional keep
original MBR code, if the other partition is linux, and the Grub working
good.

I'm not sure but when I play around with boot managers then
I make sure to have the tools to restore the MBR, regardless
of what type it is. Not being able to restore an MBR is just not
acceptable.
 
M

Malke

zoli62 said:
I have two partition on my hd, NTFS and linux ext2. An repair install of XP
Professional SP2 do wipe original linux MBR code, writed by Debian
installer? This is important question. In forums on the internet i have
readed some different answers for that issue.

In my experiment the repair install of Windows 2000 Professional keep
original MBR code, if the other partition is linux, and the Grub working good.

You are incorrect. If you did a reinstall of Win2k it would have
installed its own bootloader. You are probably just misremembering
things. In any case, to answer your question - yes, a reinstall and/or a
repair install of XP will install the Windows bootloader. You will need
to repair Grub.

man grub


Malke
 
P

Phisherman

I have two partition on my hd, NTFS and linux ext2. An repair install of XP
Professional SP2 do wipe original linux MBR code, writed by Debian
installer? This is important question. In forums on the internet i have
readed some different answers for that issue.

In my experiment the repair install of Windows 2000 Professional keep
original MBR code, if the other partition is linux, and the Grub working good.

It's a lot better to have separate physical drives for each OS. In
your case, use Partition Magic or Ghost to make a copy of the bootable
partitions. I trust neither Linux nor Windows repair install. Messing
with the MBR or partitions can be disastrous.
 
M

Malke

Phisherman said:
It's a lot better to have separate physical drives for each OS. In
your case, use Partition Magic or Ghost to make a copy of the bootable
partitions. I trust neither Linux nor Windows repair install. Messing
with the MBR or partitions can be disastrous.

The OP is still going to need a bootloader. Personally, I prefer Grub
over the Windows ones.


Malke
 
P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

Phisherman said:
It's a lot better to have separate physical drives for each OS. In
your case, use Partition Magic or Ghost to make a copy of the bootable
partitions. I trust neither Linux nor Windows repair install. Messing
with the MBR or partitions can be disastrous.

Having the various OSs on separate partitions is perfectly OK.
You do not need separate disks. And restoring an MBR under
Windows is a trivial affair.
 
G

Guest

:

Having the various OSs on separate partitions is perfectly OK.
You do not need separate disks. And restoring an MBR under
Windows is a trivial affair.

In my opinion is ok, too. But i must restore MBR under Linux if this
kickback of repair install would be correct. Possibly do you mean save MBR
before install and restore after under Windows for example Mbrutil.exe? Do
you know such programs?
 
P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

zoli62 said:
:



In my opinion is ok, too. But i must restore MBR under Linux if this
kickback of repair install would be correct. Possibly do you mean save MBR
before install and restore after under Windows for example Mbrutil.exe? Do
you know such programs?

While it is possible to save an MBR using programs such as disksave.exe,
it would be far better to use an appropriate tool to create it. Under
DOS it's fdisk.exe and I'm sure there is a similar tool under Linux.
Best to ask the question in a Linux newsgroup!
 

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